Being awake when the sun goes down and the streetlights flicker can be enchanting, especially in a European city that doesn’t sleep.
WORDS BY CHRIS ALDEN
In a world run by larks, it’s not always easy being an owl. You know who you are: the sort of person who loves night flights but hates early check-ins; who feels tired at four in the afternoon but not at four in the morning; whose day seems to operate on a 25-hour clock. You’re confident, you’re capable, and you can survive without coffee—but only at night.
But everywhere you turn, rules seem made to spite you. In London, the hotel cleaner wants to kick you out by nine in the morning, when you’ve only just gone to bed; even today in Soho, the pubs are shutting before you’ve started to think about a drink. In Athens, the Acropolis closes its doors at two in the afternoon in winter, at a time when most respectable people are contemplating breakfast.
But things are changing. Across Europe, there are more late-night restaurants, bars and events than ever before—not to mention some classic 24-hour institutions that have stood the test of time.
Experienced owls will know that many of the best late-night events are spontaneous, or organised at short notice. So on arrival in an unknown city, head to the airport bookshop to buy a newspaper or listings magazine—preferably in the local language. When out on the town, make conversation with locals for that all-important word-of-mouth, and keep an eye out for flyers and freesheets in bars and cafés.
But for some of the most memorable places to go as the hours get smaller and the nights get longer, look no further than this guide. Visit this little lot and you’ll discover that truly, this is the continent that never sleeps…
It’s busy, it’s pricey and it doesn’t have an alcohol licence—but that doesn’t stop Bar Italia (22 Frith Street, www.baritaliasoho.co.uk) being a London institution. This 24-hour café has been one of the main meeting points for Soho’s Italian community since it opened in 1949—and it remains the classic place to go for a coffee and a snack after a night out at a club (or, sad to say, an evening at one of the area’s early-closing pubs). This was the place Italians in London came to celebrate their World Cup victory this summer, and whatever you make of that, London definitely needs more places like it.
If you have never found yourself worse for wear in your gladrags, by the side of a river, being screamed at by an eel salesman, then you’ve never been to Hamburg. At 5am every Sunday morning is the St Pauli Fischmarkt (www..fischmarkt.hamburg.de)—the town’s most traditional fish market, frequented by shoppers and drinkers alike. What was once the main fish auction hall has now been filled with beer stalls, where Hamburgers drink the morning away. The real action is in the market itself, where salesmen in white vans put on a thumping show to persuade locals to buy their eels. Not speaking German won’t excuse you from being the butt of their jokes, or prevent you going home with raw eels in a paper bag as a souvenir of your night out.
Madrid may not be quite the wild nightlife hotspot it was in the post-Franco years, but locals still know how to let their hair down—by hopping from café-bar to wine-bar from midnight onwards. The trouble with all that wandering about is that it leaves your calves aching and your stomach craving for a snack. Thank heavens for “churros”. These sticky fried sweets are best enjoyed dunked into a mug of hot chocolate—and the classic place to go try them is at Chocolatería San Ginés (Pasadizo de San Ginés). It shuts after the last partygoers have wandered through — at 7.30am.
 If you need a winter warmer after an evening out in Paris, you’ve got two options. If it’s not too late, get yourself along to the Musée de l’Erotisme, (72 Boulevard de Clichy, www..musee-erotisme.com). A “respected” sex museum open until 2am, it features erotic art from the ancient world to the 21st century, and is one of the latest-opening museums on the planet. If it’s past 2am, there’s only one thing for it: a visit to Au Pied du Cochon (6 rue Coquillière, www.pieddecochon.com). While this classic brasserie may be spotted by the garish neon pig outside it—a reference to its signature pigs’ trotters—inside, it’s all traditional Parisian whimsy, the kind you’d expect from a place that’s been serving all-comers since 1946. Best of all, it never closes, and from 3am it’s packed with revellers tucking into the perfect Gallic hangover cure—onion soup.
 In Athens, locals don’t go out until at least 10pm—so it’s no surprise to find bars and restaurants doing a roaring trade in the small hours, especially in the Psyrri district. What is a surprise is that at 5am you’ll find the same revellers tucking into patsa (tripe soup) in one of the three 24-hour restaurants in the wings of the Central Meat Market. The best way to put you in the mood for patsa is to go along to a night of rembetika music—lilting 1930s Greek blues—at Stoa ton Athanaton (Sofokleous 19), a tiny but authentic bar just round the corner from the market. When listening to rembetika, the drink of choice is always whisky; whether it’s the booze or the music that leaves you craving for tripe soup is never clear.
There’s a tradition in Munich that the local delicacy, weisswurst—white sausage—is only eaten between midnight and midday. But the classic place to try it is in the Viktualienmarkt, which doesn’t open till the market traders arrive, and if you go to bed you’ll sleep through and miss it. So what to do? Tide yourself over by heading to Café Schmalznudel (Prälat-Zistl-Strasse
8). A “schmalznudel” is a kind of greasy Bavarian doughnut—and this eponymous café, another local institution, specialises in handing them out to fresh-faced larks and beery owls.
Krakow used to be an early-to-bed sort of a place, but that all changed with the fall of the Iron Curtain. And what better way to cock a snook at the old regime than at Propaganda (ul Miodowa 20, www.propaganda.biz.pl), a post-Communist theme bar complete with paintings of Lenin and the front of a Trabant hanging on the wall (its headlights work too, which is more than you could have said for the real thing). The best thing about this place is that it closes at 6am, or when the last customer chooses to leave. After that, wander into the main square for a romantic city sunrise.
There’s a time in every night out when you’re not sure if you’re having a late snack or an early breakfast. If you’ve been in the late-closing bars and cafés of Barcelona, then head to the Ramblas for a borderline day/night experience. Go straight to c/Lancaster, right near c/Nou, and you’ll find a factory where the staff have just finished baking their hot chocolate croissants when you poke your head round the door at 5am on a Sunday. The rest of the week, you’ll have to wait an hour longer for Bar Pinotxo (La Rambla 89), one of the most famous tapas bars in town, open at 6am.
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London
Hamburg
Madrid
Munich